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Dessert

To Boil Sugar for Candying

A clarified sugar syrup boiled to 35 degrees for candying fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Sugar for Candying

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Clarify the sugar in syrup as per standard method.

  2. Boil the clarified syrup until it reaches 35 degrees (feather degree).

  3. Immerse the pan in a deep dish filled with cold water and ice to cool the sugar quickly.

Set the candy

  1. Place a circular piece of paper on the cooled sugar.

  2. Pour the cooled sugar into the candying pan with the items to be candied.

  3. Cover with a close-fitting piece of thin paper.

  4. Set the pan in a drying closet with a temperature of 15°F to 20°F for about 18 hours.

Drain and dry

  1. Withdraw the corks from the tubes to drain off the syrup.

  2. Allow the fruit to dry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the syrup that later crystallizes into a dry, sugary coating on the items.

The step that matters

Boiling the syrup to 35 degrees. The syrup's final temperature sets its concentration. Cooling a properly concentrated syrup lets sugar crystallize into a firm, dry coating rather than remaining sticky or syrupy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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